Crack of Sunlight (Ereri/Riren)

•~Chapter One~•

The muffled sound of Eren's voice traveled down the hall to Levi's ears as he sat in the center of his bed, arms wrapped around his torso. His nerve endings were live wires as his mind blew up with scenarios of what was about to happen...where he was about to go and what kinds of things he'd have to experience once there. Flashes of people in white coats with all too friendly smiles coming at him with different kinds of things. They were women, mostly, with features much too similar to that of his aunt...

He shivered and tightened his arms around himself. He fought with everything in him to keep his cool, to remember why he'd made this decision in the first place.

That very reason stepped back into the room, saying, "Alex is on her way." His demeanor changed in an instant upon laying eyes on the raven, filled with anxiety. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. I'm just...cold..." he mumbled as an excuse he realized to be true as soon as he said it.

"Here," Eren murmured, reaching back and beginning to pull his hoodie over his head.

"No, Eren, it's f-" Levi attempted to protest, but before he was able to finish his sentence, Eren was pressing the warm sweatshirt into his arms.

"Don't worry about it. Unlike you, I have meat on my bones to keep me warm and I've already heated it up for you." His smile was almost painful to look at.

Levi admittedly couldn't resist the warmth (or, honestly, the smell) of the fabric and fumbled to pull it over his head. The thing practically engulfed him due to a combination of being immensely thin and smaller than Eren anyway. It was comforting, though, almost as if Eren himself were engulfing him.

"Can I check your bandages?" murmured the teen, taking a seat on the bed.

Wordlessly, Levi worked on pulling the sleeve of the hoodie up to reveal his forearm. Blood was already visible at the surface of the gauze covering his self-inflicted wound.

"Pain?" asked Eren.

"Not really."

Nodding slightly, Eren said, "Should probably change it before we leave..."

Levi let the brunet lead him to the bathroom by the hand. He sunk down onto the closed toilet lid and let Eren do his thing - peel the bandages off as gently as possible, discard them in the trash, clean up his arm and apply peroxide, wipe it again and apply new bandages, this time wrapping several layers around it rather than cutting and taping it.

Levi was so focused on Eren himself that he was startled a bit when the teen asked, "That feel okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah..."

Eren's gaze met Levi's head on and the raven realized the borderline grim look he'd bore for the past several weeks had been replaced with something brighter - relief.

"It's gonna be okay, Levi," he murmured.

"Yeah," breathed the artist as he dropped his arm and let the sleeve of Eren's hoodie slide back down to conceal his hand.

"Come on," the teen coaxed. "You should probably get ready before Alex gets here."

Levi stood and followed the brunet back across into his room. His body was entirely too fatigued and his mind was filled with the thoughts of the decision he'd made only twenty minutes earlier.

"Do you have a suitcase or something?" Eren asked, eyes scouring the room for something of the sort.

"Closet," murmured the raven, sitting once more.

Eren wandered to the closet that probably hadn't been opened in months. When he twisted the knob and pulled it open, he was greeted by a cloud of dust and the smell of must. Waving his hand in front of his face, he reached in and pulled out the only thing inside - a small navy blue duffel bag. Shutting the closet once more, he moved in front of the dresser and sat, looking back at Levi who seemed to be staring off into space, face twisted up into an anxious expression.